Bethany McIntosh was walking down the hall in her sister Velmon Reese's home on West Street when what sounded like a train kept getting louder. Then Ms. Reese's voice took over.

"I heard her screaming, 'It's a tornado, a tornado!'" Ms. McIntosh said. "So I just kind of laid down on the floor when she was saying it. The only thing I could really hear was like the wind blowing, but she said she heard something sounding like a train."

Folks driving through the neighborhood on Friday commented that the family was blessed because no one was injured. Everyone in the home agreed that it was an answer to prayers.

"I was scared," Ms. McIntosh remembered. "I laid on that floor, and to be honest to God with you, I just kept saying 'Jesus, please help us. Please help us.' And that's the only thing that I just kept repeating."

As the storm passed, a tree in Ms. Reese's front yard landed across her car. After the storm, she was sitting in the living room when the ceiling caved in around her, and a tarp now covers the entire roof of her home.

"We're going to have it all fixed," said Ms. Reese, who was equally glad that no one was injured at her home. "...I don't know how much damage was done because it did a lot of damage on the inside as well."